Monstrous Southern California wildfire drives 80,000 from homes

Flames erupt on a hillside alongside one of the main rail routes connecting Southern California with points north and east as a wildfire rages out of control in Cajon Pass north of Devore. James Quigg/The Daily Press via Associated Press

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — A wildfire with a ferocity never seen by veteran California firefighters raced up and down canyon hillsides Wednesday, instantly incinerating homes and forcing thousands of people to flee, some running for their lives just ahead of the flames.

A day after it ignited in brush left tinder-dry by years of drought, the blaze had spread across nearly 47 square miles and was raging completely out of control. The flames advanced despite the efforts of 1,300 firefighters.

A helicopter makes a water drop on a wildfire as it burns near Cleghorn Road in the Cajon Pass in California. The fire forced the shutdown of a section of Interstate 15, the main highway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, leaving commuters stranded for hours. James Quigg/The Daily Press via Associated Press

A U.S. Forest Service crew looks for routes to aid in battling a wildfire near Highway 138 and Interstate 15 in California. James Quigg/The Daily Press via Associated Press

Damin Pashilk, the suspect in a blaze that destroyed 175 homes and other structures over the weekend, is also accused of starting a blaze that burned two acres and an uninhabited mobile home. Kent Porter/The Press Democrat via Associated Press

Authorities could not immediately say how many homes had been destroyed, but they warned that the number will be large.

“There will be a lot of families that come home to nothing,” San Bernardino County Fire Chief Mark Hartwig said after flying over a fire scene he described as “devastating.”

“It hit hard. It hit fast. It hit with an intensity that we hadn’t seen before,” he said.

No deaths were reported, but cadaver dogs were searching the ruins for anyone who was overrun by the flames.

In 40 years of fighting fires, Incident Cmdr. Mike Wakoski said, he had never seen conditions as extreme as those in Cajon Pass, where the fire broke out Tuesday morning.

Residents like Vi Delgado and her daughter April Christy, who had been through a major brushfire years before, said they had never seen anything like it either.

“No joke, we were literally being chased by the fire,” a tearful April Christy said in a voice choked with emotion as she and her mother sat in their minivan in an evacuation center parking lot in Fontana. They did not go inside because their dogs, three Chihuahuas and a mixed-breed mutt, were not allowed.

“You’ve got flames on the side of you. You’ve got flames behind you,” Christy said, describing a harrowing race down a mountain road. She was led by a sheriff’s patrol car in front while a California Highway Patrol vehicle trailed behind and a truck filled with firefighters battled flames alongside her.

She and her mother, onsite caretakers at the Angels and Paws animal rescue shelter in Devore Heights, said it was only moments after they smelled smoke that flames exploded all around them. They grabbed their pets and tried to rescue nine other shelter dogs and three cats, but a sheriff’s deputy told them there was no time.

“You won’t make it. Save yourself. Take your truck and leave,” Delgado said the deputy shouted at her, adding that he and others would try to rescue the animals. She learned later that authorities did save the animals, but officials could not tell her if her home survived.

More than 34,000 homes and some 82,000 people were under evacuation warnings as firefighters concentrated their efforts on saving homes in the mountain communities of Lytle Creek, Wrightwood and Phelan. They implored residents not to think twice if told to leave.

“This is not the time to mess around,” said Battalion Chief Mark Peebles of the San Bernardino County Fire Department.

Six firefighters were briefly trapped by flames during the fire’s early hours, when occupants of a home refused to leave and the crew stayed to protect them.

“This moved so fast,” said Darren Dalton, 51, who along with his wife and son had to get out of his house in Wrightwood. “It went from ‘Have you heard there’s a fire?’ to ‘mandatory evacuation’ before you could take it all in. This is a tight little community up here. Always in rally mode. Suddenly it’s a ghost town.”

Hundreds of cars packed with belongings and animals left the town. The air for miles around the blaze was filled with smoke.

Although there was no official count on how many homes were lost, Eric Sherwin of the San Bernardino County Fire Department said Tuesday that he seen at least a dozen buildings go up in flames, some of them homes. Among them was the Summit Inn, a historic Route 66 diner near Interstate 15.

The interstate is a major route connecting Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and countless big rigs were parked along it on both sides of Cajon Pass on Wednesday, waiting for it to reopen.

Less than 24 hours after the blaze began 60 miles east of Los Angeles, authorities had assembled a fleet of 10 air tankers, 15 helicopters and an army of 1,300 firefighters, many of them just off the lines of a wildfire that burned for 10 days just to the east.

At a dawn briefing, half the firefighters raised their hands when asked how many had just come from an earlier blaze, part of a siege of infernos burning across California this year. In all, 10,000 firefighters are fighting eight blazes around the state, from Shasta County in the far north to Camp Pendleton

Meanwhile, a major blaze north of San Francisco was fading, and about 4,000 people in the town of Clearlake were allowed to return home.

Their relief was tempered with anger at a man who authorities believe set the blaze that wiped out several blocks of a small town over the weekend. That fire destroyed 175 homes and other structures in the working-class town of Lower Lake.

Here at MaineToday Media we value our readers and are committed to growing our community by encouraging you to add to the discussion.

To ensure conscientious dialogue we have implemented a strict no-bullying policy. To participate, you must follow our Terms of Use. Click here to flag and report a comment that violates our terms of use.

eric assange

lets hope&pray that only christians lose their homes

DRJJ

You’re late for happy hour fool.

DRJJ

I understand you folks had several reservoirs of water in the canyons, but took them out to save tree frogs?